Manchester's Victims
by xenascully
Summary: Sequel for Vance's Ghosts; The team works a case that could cost Dinozzo his life. The team deals with the aftermath of what happened at the warehouse. Angst seekers, look no further.


**Manchester's Victims**

**Rated M **for language, violence, mention of rape.

Summary: Sequel for Vance's Ghosts; The team works a case that could cost Dinozzo his life. The team deals with the aftermath of what happened at the warehouse. Angst seekers, look no further.

(_I've been writing this for three days...give or take some sleep in between. I hope you enjoy this sequel as much as I enjoyed writing it :)__ )_

* * *

Agent Tony Dinozzo stepped off the elevator and walked toward the bullpen with his backpack and a cup of coffee. He saw Ziva turn and smile when she saw him and it made the corner of his mouth turn up. Then he caught a glimpse of McGee, balanced perfectly with his feet up on his desk and his hands behind his head, sleeping; something Dinozzo was better known for. But this made his smile grow.

"Aw, would you look at McNappy over there," he said putting his pack and coffee down. McGee cracked open an eye. "First day back and he's already falling asleep on the job."

"I was just resting my eyes, Tony," he said, and pulled his feet down and sat up.

"It's alright, McGee. Almost dying can really tire a guy out," he said as he sat down at his own desk and put his feet up and began to settle down for a nap of his own.

"Grab your gear," Gibbs said, right on cue as he rounded the corner. Tony sat up quickly, slightly frustrated at his thwarted plans. "We've got a dead marine." Gibbs paused for a moment when he put the clip in his gun and caught sight of Agent McGee grabbing his gear. "You up for this, McGee?" he asked him.

"Yeah, Boss, I've been ready to get back to work since the day I got out of the hospital." Gibbs nodded his head.

"Alright. Let's go."

* * *

* * *

"You really think he's ready to be back out in the field?" Tony asked Ziva quietly as he snapped a picture of a dismantled tail light Ziva placed a marker next to.

"McGee is fine, Tony," she said, bagging the evidence.

"Yeah, Tony, I'm fine," Tim surprised him.

"Well, it doesn't seem as though you're getting much done," Tony pointed out in retaliation. Tim frowned behind him and held up his camera to resume taking pictures of the debris from the destroyed vehicle.

"You know, Ziva told me how upset you were when you thought I was dead," he smirked as he held his camera in front of him. Tony shot a glare at Ziva. "She said you even cried."

"Okay, that's—that's just not fair," he stood and turned to face him. "I had sodium amytal in me."

"It's called a truth serum, Dinozzo," Gibbs said as he walked up to them, "You can't really get outta this one." Tony frowned and turned back to his work. "Put down your cameras for a minute and give me and Ducky a hand getting this body out of the car." Tony raced to catch up with Gibbs and McGee and Ziva followed close behind.

"Thank you, boys," Ducky said as they approached the car. "Mr. Palmer pinched a nerve in his back and is under strict orders not to lift any heavy objects this week."

"Under _your _orders, you mean, Doctor," Palmer said, mostly annoyed that he couldn't be of assistance.

"If you and Timothy could grab that side, and Jethro, you help me over here. Ziva, if you would be a dear and lay out that tarp."

The agents reached carefully under the burned body and began to lift. "GAH!" Tony pulled his hand away and shook it.

"What happened?" McGee grabbed Tony's wrist when he noticed blood.

"Must be some glass in the guy," he pulled his arm free from Tim, "It tore through my glove. It's just a scratch though." Ducky made his way around the car to look for himself.

"Yes, I see," Palmer investigated the body closer. "The force of the explosion must've caused a large amount of debris to become embedded in the poor guy's skin. Lucky for him, he was probably dead before feeling it."

"Yes, Mr. Palmer," Ducky turned to face him, "As soon as we pulled up here I thought the very same. How lucky this lad was today." Palmer shrunk back and away. "Anyway, I suppose we need a new strategy for removing him then..."

* * *

After all the evidence had been gathered and bagged, Ducky was finished examining the body and ready to load him into the truck to be transported for autopsy. Tony helped to pick up the stretcher and load him in the back, then shut the doors.

"Ready to head back?" Gibbs asked his team. Ziva and McGee started towards the car. "Dinozzo?" he called to his agent who had remained standing with his hand still on the door he'd shut for Ducky. Ziva and Tim turned to see what was going on.

"Boss, I- I don't- feel so good," he was short of breath. Ducky walked back toward Dinozzo when he heard this.

"Gurney too much for you to handle?" Gibbs joked.

"I-I don't know, Boss," he lurched forward suddenly, grabbing at his chest. They all moved towards him.

"Is it the cab injury?" Ducky asked, taking hold of the agent's arm to steady him.

"No...no this is different...oh-" he fell to his knees, and the others were at his side helping to lower him to the ground. "I can't breathe..."

"Good lord," Ducky exclaimed as he checked Tony's pulse. "Palmer, I need you to bring me the oxygen and mask from the back! Jethro, fetch my bag from the front seat, quickly!"

"What's happening?" McGee panicked. "Is it another infection?" Ducky didn't answer, but quickly applied the oxygen mask over Tony's face.

"Ziva, hold this please," he said and she quickly replaced his hand on the mask with her own. She looked at Tony's eyes as they rolled back in his head.

Ducky fetched a small bottle from his bag, popped it open and fetched a small pill. "Alright, Ziva, move it for a moment." She complied and pulled the mask away. "Tony, I'm going to put this under your tongue," he told him. But his head was foggy and he didn't comprehend. Ducky stuck the pill under the agent's tongue and motioned for Ziva to replace the mask.

After a few grueling moments, Tony's head began to clear and he could breathe again. The pain in his chest seemed to subside. "W-what did you give me, Duck?" he asked, muffled by the mask.

"A nitroglycerin tablet," he replied. "We need to get you to a hospital right away."

"Aw, Duck, I practically just got out of that place. I'm feeling much better now," he swatted at the mask and tried to sit up.

"Anthony, it's not a negotiation. You may have just suffered a heart attack."

* * *

An astonished look painted the faces of those around him. Tony laughed.

"You're joking, right? Duck...I-" His colleagues' faces didn't change in their seriousness. His smile quickly faded "I'm too young to just...drop from a heart attack...right?"

* * *

Tony laid uncomfortably in the back seat of Gibbs' car holding the oxygen to his face. Gibbs and McGee hadn't said a word since they'd gotten in the car and it was starting to get to him.

"You mad at me, Boss?" he asked.

"Why would I be mad at you, Dinozzo?" he asked.

"I don't know...you seem...angry." He was silent for a moment. McGee cautiously glanced at his boss.

"I'm not angry," he said simply. In fact, he was scared. He didn't much like the feeling.

* * *

Waiting was probably Tony's least favorite activity. Well, at least in the past month anyway. He'd been sitting in an E.R bed for nearly an hour. "Thank God I'm not having a heart attack or anything," he said loud enough for nurses to hear as they passed by.

"Calm down, Tony," McGee said, looking away from the television. "At least you've got cable."

"It's like a three and a half inch screen, Probie," he retorted. "I have to pee, he threw open the blanket and shifted his legs off the bed.

"Whoa, Dinozzo," Gibbs walked in through the curtain. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Can a man go to the bathroom without an interrogation?" he stood and realized his boss was holding two cups of coffee. "Oh! Is one-uh thoseferme?" he slurred.

"Play cute all you want, Dinozzo," Gibbs pulled the cup away from his outstretched hand, "But you can't have coffee right now. This is for McGee." Tim gratefully accepted the cup and started toward the curtain to leave.

"Whosplayincute?" Tony asked, and Gibbs' focus was diverted to Tony's hand which was now shaking. McGee saw it too and decided to stay for a moment. Tony quickly put his hand down.

"They give you some painkillers or something?" he asked. Tony frowned.

"I'm gonna go pee," he responded. Gibbs set the coffee down on the tray and began to follow him. "Hey, Boss," he stopped and turned around. Gibbs stopped and waited for the opposition, but Tony's face went blank. And without warning, he dropped like dead wait to his knees and Tim managed to dive and catch him before his head hit the floor.

"Nurse!" Gibbs yelled as he went to his agent's side and flipped him over. Then Tony began seizing.

"God what's happening to him?" McGee moved out of the way with his boss as a team of nurses came to help.

Gibbs didn't have an answer.

* * *

Ducky entered the morgue and set his bag down on his desk absentmindedly. "Doctor Mallard," Palmer greeted him, "How is Agent Dinozzo?"

"He's in surgery," he said as he prepped himself to do the autopsy on the burned marine.

"Did they find something wrong with his heart?"

"On the contrary," he walked to the table, "They haven't even looked at it yet."

"Then...is it exploratory surgery?" Ducky looked up at his assistant before realizing that the boy hadn't been updated yet.

"Oh no, Mr. Palmer. In fact it seems as he was waiting to be seen, he had, what they believe right now to be brain hemorrhage. Right now they're probably putting a shunt into his skull to relieve the pressure and buy themselves some time for a diagnosis," he banged the table in frustration causing Palmer to jump, and something to fall from the body and clang onto the metal surface. Ducky squatted down and picked up the bloody piece of glass with a pair of tweezers.

As he flipped it around under the magnifying glass, his eyes danced around in thought. "I need you to get this to Abigail straight away," he said as Palmer held out the dish for him to place it in. "Tell her to look for any traces of toxins. If I'm right, this might have something to do with Tony's ailments."

* * *

Abby's mass spectrometer was beeping at her just as Gibbs walked in. "Right on time as usual, Gibbs," she said. "What's going on today?" She noticed he was empty-handed and she frowned. "No Caf-Pow?" But Gibbs' mind was elsewhere and he hadn't heard her. "Gibbs!" she yelled and brought him jolting back to reality. "What is going on?" she walked right up to him. "I've almost never seen you like this," she put her hand on his arm. He looked at her for a moment then shook his head as if to clear his head.

"What do you have for me?" he asked. She was quiet for a moment, then turned to her computer.

"The glass Ducky pulled from the lance corporal's body was covered in blood...no surprises there. Interesting part, however, is that it contained massive amounts of proteins and toxins. Like the kind you'd find in a poisonous snake like a cobra or a viper."

"So you're saying he was bit by a cobra? And the cobra...tried to cover his tracks by blowing up his car?"

"Don't be silly, Gibbs," she smiled at him. "I'm not sure yet. This glass could've come from the actual venom bite site, but it's a long shot. I'll keep looking into it..." she noticed he wasn't really listening anymore. "Gibbs!" He looked at her. "What's wrong?" He stood there for a moment then ran a hand down his face.

"I'm investigating a reptile-related death while Dinozzo is getting a hole drilled into his head!" he walked to the door and she thought he was leaving, but he closed it and turned to her.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, a bit taken back by the unfamiliar look of anguish on his face.

"Earlier today, at the crime scene, Tony had what Ducky thinks was a heart attack," he paced in front of her.

"What Ducky thinks is usually what it is," she said, amazingly calm. She realized that she needed to be the strong one this time...it was usually her that did the freaking out and Gibbs did the comforting. "But what is this about drilling a hole in his head?"

"He got up to use the bathroom at the E.R and he just...he started slurring and shaking and he just... dropped," though he held it together impressively well, Abby could see that his eyes were glossy. It made it difficult for her not to well up with tears. "The doctors say he might've had a massive brain hemorrhage...they're drilling the hole to put in a shunt and relieve the pressure. The problem is," he grew angry, "Is that they have no idea why this is happening! Abs, that means this could keep happening," he stopped in front of her. "It's bad enough I gotta worry about them being shot at or hurt on the job...but this-- this I don't know how to handle, Abs," her hands reached to sit on his shoulders as his features began to crumble...well, for Gibbs, this was crumbling. She pulled him into a hug and he just breathed for a moment. Deep breaths. And silence.

He pushed away soon after, "I'm sorry, Abs. It's been a long day. I don't...I'm not like this..."

"I know, Gibbs. It's nice that we could swap roles like that just this once though." He smirked at that and let out another long breath. "I've seen a lot of things, Abby. I've lost friends in battle...lost partners before...I don't know..."

"This is different."

"How?"

She cocked her jaw at his question."He's like...your son, Gibbs. Or—or maybe a younger brother, cause you're definitely not old enough to be his dad," she quickly changed. Gibbs didn't respond. "Tony's always been here. He's a great agent. He's the squishy gooey stuff that holds this team together. You know, like the guy who always knows just what to say when it really counts...someone you can count on to make you laugh when you're feeling like crap..." she began to cry. It was Gibbs' turn to pull her into a hug. "He can walk into a broken room and pick up all the pieces and put it back together..." her words drifted as she pulled away from him.

"Gibbs, that's it!" she said as she turned back to her computer.

"What?"

"The piece of glass...has venom on it...this venom has particularly high levels of neurotoxic and hemotoxic poisons."

"Tony cut his hand on a piece of that glass today. Could the venom cause what's happening to him?"

"Neurotoxic venom itself can effect the heart and respiratory system, and hemotoxic venom can damage the blood cells...and even cause hemorrhaging."

"Get on the phone to the hospital!" he said as he headed for the door and opened it, "Tell them Dinozzo needs anti-venom drugs!"

* * *

"Let me know how he is when he wakes up," Vance said to Ziva outside Tony's hospital room. She nodded as he walked away and make her way back to his bedside with a pamphlet she'd picked up from the nurse station. She glanced around the room to make sure they hadn't woken anyone up. Gibbs was passed out on the vacant bed across the room and Ducky was asleep in a chair by the window. She smiled because it was nearly two in the afternoon.

"Ziva?" she heard and her head shot to Dinozzo.

"Tony," she sought his hand with hers.

"Did we find her?" he asked. Ziva cocked her head in question.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Gibbs' eyes opened up from where he lay on the bed and he looked at Ducky who had also woken up at the sound of Tony's voice.

"Did we find Jenny?" Ziva frowned for a moment. Then she smiled and laughed.

"Oh, I see what you're doing. You can't fool me twice," she looked over at Gibbs and Ducky who were getting up.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. "Did we find her or not? Ow!" he grabbed his head when he sat up and felt a sharp pain.

"Careful, Dinozzo," Gibbs said.

"There was a shunt there," Ducky added as they made there way over, "But it's out now."

"What the hell happened?" he asked. "Did I wreck the car?" Ziva was noticeably disturbed. "Did I let you drive, Ziva?"

"He thinks we're still in Los Angeles."

* * *

"I told him what happened in Somalia," Ziva sat on one of the autopsy tables and talked to the one person she truly felt she could be open with. "When we were held captive by Manchester and they gave us the truth serum...I told Tony what my captor did to me... before he found me."

"Ziva..."

"Now it's like I've never told anyone, once again. He doesn't remember it, and now I hold onto that alone."

"You don't have to," Ducky said. She stared at him for a long moment, confirming with herself that she would share this with her friend, just as Tony had said she could've done all along.

* * *

It was six in the morning. Agent McGee sat in the chair next to Tony's bed. He hadn't slept all night. Tony had awoken around three and wanted to chat....

_"Hey, Probie. What're you doing here?"_

_ "Making sure you don't grope any of the nurses."_

_ "Ha! Likely story. I'm kinda thirsty. Can you hand me that glass of water?"_

_ "Sure," he stood and held it out to him. Instead of grabbing it, he simply sipped from the straw._

_ " Have you seen Jenny yet?" he asked, unexpectedly._

_ "Jenny? Jenny....Shepard?" McGee was confused._

_ "Yeah, of course."_

_ "Tony...Director Shepard...died over a year ago in Los Angeles. Don't you remember?" Tony's face turned white, and immediately Tim wished he'd avoided the answer. "Tony?" Dinozzo reached for the plastic basin in front of him and McGee quickly handed it over right before Tony threw up into it._

_ A few moments passed before Tim asked, "You okay?"_

_ "Yeah, McGee...I think I'm gonna go back to sleep now."_

_ "Okay...okay well, I'll...be right here..."_

"Idiot!" McGee muttered under his breath, ashamed.

"What's that, McGee?" Gibbs said as he walked in to relieve him. Tim stood quickly and walked towards the door.

"Boss, I need to speak to you in the hall for a second," he rushed past him and the older man followed.

"What is it?"

"I may have...accidentally...told Tony about Director Shepard...no longer being with us," he squeezed his eyes shut, preparing to be hit in the back of the head. But none came.

"Had to happen sooner or later," he said instead, and walked past him back into the room. He stood at the foot of the bed and studied Dinozzo for a moment. "You gonna be done pretending to sleep any time soon?" he said. Tony's eyes shot open.

Tony turned to sit up slowly. "Anyone else die that I should know about?" This caught Gibbs' attention, but he concealed any sign of that. "Or should I say, have I let anyone else die?"

"What are you talking about, Probie?"

"You know damn well! It's my fault...Jenny's death..."

"I don't know where you got that idea..."

"I remember it now. McGeek told me she'd died...I remembered the rest after that. I shoulda followed her like Ziva said..." then a look of horror washed over his face. "Oh God...Ziva?"

"Relax, Tony. Ziva's fine..."

"I remember something...an bomb went off and it was on the news, and...Ziva...she was hurt."

"She's okay," he leaned forward, "I promise you, everyone else is still here." Tony looked at him.

"Okay," he said. Gibbs noticed Tony was looking at his coffee cup.

"Thirsty?" He nodded. Gibbs set the coffee down in front of him. Tony made no move to take it. "Ya just gonna stare at it all morning?" Tony looked down. Gibbs grabbed his coffee back and relaxed in his chair. "So, if talking jogs your memory, maybe we should talk," he suggested. Tony blinked but didn't look over. "We can start with how you helped save Ziva by infiltrating a Somalian base..." Tony looked over at him then in curiosity.

* * *

"I started talking to him about the rescue mission in Somalia," Gibbs explained to Ducky in the hallway at the hospital, "And he remembered, but...then he got all weird and quiet, got up in a hurry and ran to the bathroom...started pukin' his guts out. Now he's just sitting in there. Doesn't wanna come out." Ducky looked down for a moment. Gibbs didn't miss it. "You know somethin' I don't, Duck?"

"When Manchester held us captive," he began, "And he took us out of the room and gave him and Ziva the truth serum, Ziva...confessed something she'd not told anyone about her extended stay in Somalia." Gibbs sank down into a chair against the wall but Ducky remained standing. His voice grew very quiet. "Ziva was...repeatedly raped by her captor, Jethro." Gibbs' head dropped down as he digested that sentence. "She didn't want to tell anyone, for fear they'd think she was unfit...or would be outcast like she has been from her own father." Gibbs looked back up at him, his eyes wet.

"I haven't slept more than a few hours a night since Manchester," he confessed to his old friend.

"It's been nearly six weeks," Ducky replied with understanding. "Well, no wonder...you were taken from your home in the middle of the night and forced to watch each member of your team nearly die. You were on round the clock duty while Tim and Tony were recovering and now you're doing it again!"

"I'm goin' home, Duck. I just wanna sleep," he swiped a stray tear, cursing under his breath. "Do you have something that can help?"

"In the crisper of your refrigerator," he began, "Is a prescription I picked up for you right before the Manchester case. If I recall, you hadn't been sleeping well that week. I called something in for you. I told you I'd put it there, didn't it?"

"I...didn't use it," Gibbs said.

"Obviously."

"I didn't remember they were there."

"Go home and get some sleep, Jethro. Vance isn't expecting you in this week. I'll stop by and check on you when I'm done with my shift." He patted the man's shoulder and made his way into Tony's room.

* * *

Jethro made his way to his car, unlocked the door and got in. He sat there for a moment before starting the engine and pulling on his belt.

"_Ziva...confessed something she'd not told anyone about her extended stay in Somalia...Ziva was...repeatedly raped by her captor, Jethro."_ He heard it play over in his head again. Rage ran through his blood and he punched the dashboard over and over until it cracked...he gripped the steering wheel and his head rested on his bloody knuckles as he wept.

He wept until his cell began to ring. He swallowed, pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID. He pressed the button to answer and put it to his ear, but couldn't manage to say anything.

_"Gibbs?" _came Abby's voice from the other line.

"Yeah, Abs. Have anything for me?" he said quietly.

_"I've been doing some digging and running the blood samples Ducky pulled from the lance corporal. It's definitely snake venom, Gibbs. But it's too thick in this guy's system to have been from a simple bite. In fact, I found venom from three separate species of snake. Cobra, Viper and Adder venom were all found in his system. This guy was bitten at least a dozen times." _There was no response from Jethro, so she continued, _"So I went back to search the vehicle with Palmer and we found several extra crispy snake corpses. But here's the best part: I looked closer at the underbelly of what's left of the car, and discovered that something had been removed. Whatever caused that explosion, someone came back to the scene and took it. I pulled a partial print from the frame around the area of the missing component and I'm running it now."_

"That's good work, Abs," he said in barely a whisper.

_"You okay, Gibbs?"_ she asked, concerned.

"Just tired, Abby," he said. "Why don't you call it a night. Go home and get some rest and call me if you get a match."

_"It's not even noon, Gibbs. You go get some sleep. Call me when you return to the land of the living. By then I should have some answers for you." _He ended the call and put the car in drive.

* * *

Gibbs opened the fridge and bent down to open the crisper. There was, in fact, his bottle of sleep meds. He smirked at the fact he hadn't recalled ever being told they were there. He stood and shut the drawer with his foot and let the fridge door close itself.

He went to the basement and emptied out a jar, pouring himself a glass of bourbon and popping open the bottle of sleep meds. He read the label; take up to two tablets for sleep as needed. He tipped the bottle up to his mouth and allowed three to fall onto his tongue before washing them down with his drink.

He set the bottle back down on the bench, retrieved a file from a hidden space under his work-table and retreated to the upstairs with his half-empty glass, making his way to the couch. He set down the glass and file on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch, scooting to sit on the edge and thumb through the file.

They were pictures recovered from the Somalian base they'd infiltrated to save Ziva. Pictures he never planned on viewing, for Ziva's sake...for her privacy...her dignity. But now he knew. And now he needed to know...

He flipped open the cover to reveal a still-shot from a surveillance camera. It was black and white and somewhat distorted, but he could make out her battered face. He wiped his mouth with the back of his fingers and then gently cupped his mouth before flipping to the next one. His jaw clenched. This, too, was a still shot from video. He could make out Ziva's form strung up on a wall by her arms. He flipped it over to the next one. One by one, he quickly flipped through the horrid images as Ziva's captor was seen beating her, then stripping her...raping her as she hung helpless to defend herself...but in the last photo, in her eyes he saw nothing. She was emotionless...empty. She had given up.

They _had_ been too late. He slammed the file closed as tightly as his eyes had squeezed shut trying to remove the images from his mind. No one else could see these...no one had the right.

He quickly thrust them into the fireplace and fumbled to light them ablaze. When he was successful, he sat back down, grabbing his drink and swallowing the last bit before watching the file burn.

He began to feel drowsy. The light from the windows made him decide to go to bed, where he could shut the curtains and pass out. But as he stood and began walking he lost his balance and tripped down to the floor. With a grunt, he pushed himself up to his feet again. His ears began ringing and he felt short of breath.

_"Where's that damned bottle?"_ he thought to himself and tried to make it back to his couch. He didn't recall this being a side affect mentioned on the bottle of the medication. His drowsiness became more severe and the room became out of focus. He dropped to his hands and knees on the floor, crawling until he felt the side of the couch and sitting on the floor, back against the arm of it. He couldn't get his breath. _"Something's wrong...this isn't right,"_ he fumbled for his cell in his pocket, unable to move his head to watch his own movements. He tried to hold the phone up so he could see it. His fingers were clammy and slipping on the buttons, opening his contacts and hitting the '6' key accidentally, he hit the call button and managed to turn the speakerphone on before his arms gave out and the phone fell down next to him. It rang...he didn't care who it was...as long as someone knew...

_"You've reached the voice mailbox of Agent Timothy McGee,"_ the speaker sounded, _"Please leave a message and I'll get right back to you."_

_"God I hope so, McGee," _Gibbs thought.

* * *

"Hey, Abby," McGee strolled into the forensics lab and the pigtails spun with her head as she replied.

"Hey, Timmy," she turned back to her computer and typed something, "You're just in time. I've got a match on the partial print we pulled from the frame of the car. It's from another marine; Weapons Specialist Marshall C. Elliot. He's got about a dozen complaints called in by neighboring tenants in the apartment he has off-base. Guess what they're for?" she gave a devilish smile and Tim cocked his head waiting for a reply. "Little white mice escaping from his apartment and getting loose throughout the complex. Why would Elliot have so many mice, you ask?"

"Snakes eat mice..." Tim concluded, "I'll get a warrant and call Gibbs," he reached for his phone. "Well, that's odd," he said and Abby looked back at him. "I must've left my phone on my desk."

"I've got it," Palmer said, rounding the corner.

"Uh...thanks?" McGee took the phone from him.

"Abby sent me up to get you and...well I guess we passed each other. Your phone started ringing, so I grabbed it and came right down." Tim looked at the missed call log.

"Gibbs called...and left a voice mail," he said, slightly surprised by that. He called his voice mailbox and typed in the password.

_"McGee..." _Tim heard the struggling in his voice and grew worried. He hit the speakerphone button, if nothing more but to be able to hear him better. _"Help..." _McGee and Abby were suddenly stricken with fear and the sound coming from the speaker. _"Help me..."_

* * *

Gibbs kept drifting in and out of sleep, waking to remind himself to breathe in. _"I can't do this to them,"_ he thought, _"I can't do this to Dinozzo...McGee...Ziva...this will kill them." _He sucked in what breath he could. _"I can't die like this..." _

* * *

Ducky pulled up in front of Leroy Jethro Gibbs' house and made his way to the door, knowing it would be unlocked. He let himself in and turned to shut the door as he hung up his cap, "Jethro?" he called out to see where his friend might be. But not too loudly, in case he had actually gotten to sleep. When he didn't receive an answer, that's what he assumed as he made his way to the living room area.

"Oh God, Jethro!" he exclaimed when he caught sight of his dear friend who was nearly blue and unconscious on the floor up against the couch. The doctor quickly knelt down to assist his friend, checking for a pulse, and was startled when Gibbs' suddenly opened his eyes and sucked in a struggled breath. "Jethro! Can you hear me?" he panicked at his friend's predicament. Gibbs managed to nod. "How many did you take? Where's the bottle?" Gibbs struggled to keep himself awake. He looked at Ducky and Ducky noticed Jethro's hand held up three fingers.

"Downsta..." he breathed.

"Downstairs? Alright. Jethro, I'm calling an ambulance. You're having some kind of reaction..." he dialed his phone. "I need an ambulance right away, we have an NCIS Agent down!" he said into the phone. He gave the address and looked back at Gibbs, "Jethro, you need to stay awake. I'm going to get the pills. I'll be right back."

* * *

"I traced the call to his house!" McGee shouted into the phone as Abby drove the speeding car towards Gibbs' place. "We're on our way there now, but I don't know what the situation is! He could need an ambulance!"

_"I'll get one sent over there," _Director Vance said on the other line, _"You be careful in there. I'm sending some backup and I'll leave right now to head that way."_

"Thank you, Sir," Tim ended the call as they pulled up to the house and saw Ducky's car.

"Ducky's in there, too..." Abby stated. "What if they're in trouble, McGee?"

"You wait here, Abby," he said, pulling out his weapon and opening the door.

"McGee, how can I just sit here and wait?" she got out and slammed the door.

"I mean it, Abs! You stay down! We don't have a clue what could be in there..." he looked her in the eye from the other side of the car until he knew she would comply, and turned, running up the house.

He turned the handle to the front door and kicked it open, pointing his weapon as his did a visual check of the room and stepped in. He stepped into the living room area and immediately saw his boss and scrambled over to his seemingly lifeless body. "Boss?" he was horrified at the shade of blue on Gibbs face that leaned back on the arm of the couch...his eyes wide open...and unmoving.

Tim reached over to check the man's pulse...distracted by his own heart pounding in his ears, he could feel just a faint, slow beat.

"Ducky?!" he shouted, remembering that he was there. He stood again, gun raised and searched the house.

"Timothy?" he popped out of the basement.

"Duck...the boss...he's not breathing..." McGee panicked, "He- he barely has a pulse. What's going on? What happened?"

"You can put your gun away," he said quickly going to Gibbs' side and checking his pulse for himself once more.

"Gibbs?!" Abby stood in the doorway to the living room, staring at Gibbs' face...frozen in her tracks, aside from the shaking that overtook her body.

"Abby, I told you to-"

"Gibbs..." she moved over to him on the floor and grabbed his face in her hands, panic taking her over, and tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, they saw him take a breath. "Gibbs? Gibbs, come on...Gibbs breathe..." He took another shallow breath and eyes closed.

"Abs...?" he said when he breathed out.

"Yeah, Gibbs, it's me."

"I hear the ambulance outside, Jethro," Ducky said. "Everything's going to be okay," he grabbed his friend's hand, and was saddened at how cold and weak Gibbs felt. Abby grabbed his other hand and stroked his face gently.

"You're gonna be okay," she said to him, "You're gonna be okay..." she said to convince herself...

* * *

The ambulance pulled away after loading Gibbs in, and Abby rode in the back with him. Ducky and McGee stood in the road as they watched it drive away and caught sight of Vance's car pulling up the street to the house. He quickly got out of his car and ran up to them.

"What happened? I called for an ambulance but they said they'd already had one called to the house."

"I should've foreseen this," Ducky said, turning the bottle over in his hands.

"What do you mean?" Vance asked.

"Manchester..." he said, simply.

"Manchester?" McGee queried, his eyes darting around in thought.

"He must have switched out Jethro's medication the day before we were abducted." Tim and Leon looked at him in question. "Jethro would never have realized that the pills in this bottle weren't the simple sleep aids labeled."

"What exactly are they?" McGee asked.

"Methadone..." The men before him simultaneously looked down, disturbed. "By the look and size of these, I'd say they were 50mg tablets. Jethro told me he took three of them. If Manchester replaced the entire thirty pills he swapped out, then there are four missing," he paused, "Which means this is how they drugged him before they took him that night."

Vance angrily took off back to his car. "Director?" McGee called.

"If Ducky is right, this all leads back to me again," he said, opening the door. "If Agent Gibbs dies...his blood is on my hands."

* * *

"What is The Stand," Tony answered the Jeopardy question.

"You really have an unfair advantage in the movies category," Ziva said, amused as she watched the show with him.

"This game is starting to bore me, anyway," he said.

"I brought cards. We could play poker," she suggested.

His face suddenly painted a huge, devilish grin. "What kinda poker?"

"Ha!" She laughed, "In your dreams, snake-charmer."

"Aw, c'mon, Ziva. You can't tell me you've never played strip-poker," he smiled.

"I didn't say I've never played, Tony. I said I'm not playing it in a hospital room." He looked up in thought for a moment.

"Does that mean you'll play it...not in a hospital room?" he asked. Her cell rang. She gave him a small laugh and answered.

"David," she said without looking away from him. Suddenly her smile faded. "What? W-when?" she stood from the chair and walked a few feet away. Tony watched her with concern written on his face at the nervousness she displayed in her stance. "Have they said anything? Is he going to be okay?" her voice was trembling.

"Who?" Tony asked and she turned to look at him as she continued to listen to the person on the other line.

"I'm here with Tony still. I-I'll be here...Okay," she ended the call.

"Ziva...?"

"Gibbs is in Intensive Care," she explained, a bit shaken.

"What? What the hell happened?" he sat up.

"Ducky thinks Manchester swapped out Gibbs' sleep medication with Methadone. That it must be how they were able to abduct him before. He hadn't taken it again until today."

"How much did he take?"

"Three 50mg tablets..."

"Oh my God," Tony pulled the blankets to free his legs and swung them off the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"I've gotta go see him," he said, slipping on his shoes.

"You can't walk down to ICU, Tony. You're recovering from a brain hemorrhage."

"Then you can wheel me there," he said motioning toward the wheelchair across the room.

* * *

"I had some agents go pick up Marshall Elliot. You were right," Vance told McGee and Abby in the parking lot as they walked up to the hospital. "They found the remnants of the bomb he removed from the car, and thirty-six more snakes in aquarium tanks around the apartment similar to the ones you discovered in the vehicle. He confessed and the F.B.I are on their way in to pick him up."

"Did he say why he did it?" McGee asked as they walked in the door.

"Said he was going to turn him in for illegally purchasing exotic snakes while posted in Africa."

"That's it?" Abby said, angrily as they got into an elevator. "Tony almost died because some idiot wanted to keep his pet snakes?" Tim put his hand on her shoulder.

"We're all pissed, Abs."

* * *

The elevator opened and Ziva wheeled Tony out into the ICU floor towards Gibbs' room number. "We're here to see Leroy Jethro Gibbs," Ziva told the nurse at the station. The nurse motioned towards his room. Ziva maneuvered the chair through the door into the room and Tony caught site of him first and his hands immediately went to his face, tenting the bridge of his nose, down.

Ziva's hand went to her mouth. Their boss seemed like a frail, old man...face sunken and ashen...lifeless on the bed and tubes running from his mouth and nose, to a ventilator. His chest rose and fell in time with the hissing of the machine.

Ziva walked closer, up to the side of his bed and her hands hovered nervously over his arm. Her chin quivered as she bit back tears.

Tony stood from his chair and walked to her side, taking a closer look at his boss...his friend. The hissing of the machine made Ziva jump and she felt Tony's hand on her back. She turned to him, searching his eyes for answers he didn't have, then allowed herself to be pulled into his embrace.

Her face hid in his chest as fear caused silent streams of tears down her face. He squeezed her tighter to him, taking bunches of her shirt in his clenched fists as he watched his lifeless boss before him and couldn't stop his own.

* * *

The elevator doors opened on the ICU floor again, and Abby, McGee and Vance walked out and over to the nurse station. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs, please," Abby said to the nurse.

"Oh, hold on," she replied. "Mr. Gibbs has visitors right now. I'll go and see how much longer they'll be." She scampered off to the room across the hall.

"Excuse me," the nurse said, walking into the room. "Mr. Gibbs has some more visitors in the hall. They're wondering how much longer you'll be."

"They can come in," Tony said. "We're all together."

"Nurse?" Ziva turned to her and the nurse stopped. "How long will he be...hooked up to all of this?" The nurse stepped back toward the bed to explain.

"One of the IV lines is giving him an antidote for the Methadone overdose. That will probably stay in for the next twenty-four hours as well as the fluids. The ventilator depends on Mr. Gibbs," she said. "If he shows signs of consciousness, we can remove the tube and see if he's able to breathe on his own."

"How long before he wakes up?" Tony asked.

"We don't know. It's likely he could be comatose for a few days...but we can't know for sure."

"What's this other tube?" Ziva bit back tears.

"That's a gastric lavage. It's fed down to his stomach to clean it. That should be coming out sooner."

When a significant amount of time passed without questions, the nurse turned and left to send in the others. "We should go," Ziva said and painfully turned away from Gibbs and walked over to the wheelchair. Tony followed her and sat, allowing her to maneuver their way out of the room.

"Tony..." Abby went to him when she saw them come from the room. When he met her eyes, she stopped in her tracks.

"You shouldn't see him like this, Abs," he told her. Her eyes glassed over.

"I have to. After seeing him like that in his house...I need to know he's okay."

McGee took Abby's arm, "You...couldn't imagine..." he said to Tony.

"Go on ahead," Vance said to them, and Tim and Abby went to the room. "How are you, Tony?" he asked.

"I'm doing better. Don't let the chair fool you. It's hospital policy." He nodded.

"How does he look? Is there any word at all?"

"They'll know more this time tomorrow," Tony answered.

* * *

Doctor Mallard sat quietly in the ICU room next to Gibbs' bed. He wouldn't bore Jethro with his stories tonight. Ducky knew that he'd wanted to get some sleep...needed to. He would talk to him in the morning. For now, though, he got as comfortable as he could in his chair and would try to take a nap.

* * *

Abby squeezed toothpaste onto the newly opened toothbrush Tim had bought in the event he'd have an overnight guest again. She didn't want to go home, tonight. She hadn't wanted to leave the hospital, but McGee promised her they'd go back first thing in the morning if she'd get some sleep.

She ran some cool water over the paste and began scrubbing it over her teeth. She _was_ tired. She'd been back and forth on "Tony-duty" and working in the lab for weeks. She rinsed the brush and set it down on the cabinet. She sighed and leaned with her hands on the edges on the sink and closed her eyes for a moment. That's when she suddenly began to wrack with sobs.

* * *

McGee had been sitting in front of his computer, but holding his cell in front of him, replaying the voice mail Gibbs had left him.

_"McGee....help........help me...."_

The image of his boss when they'd found him kept coming back into his thoughts no matter how much he tried to erase it from his mind.

Then he heard something...a noise coming from the bathroom. He looked over and the door was cracked a bit. He stood, placing his phone on the desk, and walked towards the room. He could hear Abby...crying.

"Abby?" he called, softly. He pushed on the door and his heart broke when he saw her lurched over the sink, her body shaking as she cried. "Abs..." he rubbed her back and she turned from the sink into his embrace.

"Every time I close my eyes, I see him there...on the floor," she cried. "Gibbs can't die, Timmy...I can't do it...I can't watch him die..." He held her. He had no divine truths to give her. He had no words of comfort, though he longed to give it to her.

* * *

Tony desperately tried to make his fingers close over the glass of water in front of him. He'd hidden from his colleagues the fact that his fine motor skills were off. But it was becoming frustrating to constantly require a straw, or assistance from a passing nurse, whenever he was thirsty.

His hand went around the base of the cup and he tried to grip it. Concentration causing him to close his eyes and will his hand to work. When he felt the weight of the cup in his hand, he opened his eyes to confirm it. And just as soon as he'd lifted it, it slipped back down to the table. Frustrated, his eyes clamped shut and he balled his hand into a fist, resisting the urge to fling the contents of his tray to the floor.

But then he felt a soft hand upon his own and when he opened his eyes, Ziva was there at his side. Neither of them spoke as she moved his hand back to the glass. He placed his hand around its base again and she secured her hand over his as he lifted the glass and brought it to his lips and drank. And she let him lead the glass back to the table, his hand letting go of glass as hers did.

She kept eye contact with him, and his mouth began to frown, his eyes growing red and glassy. "I'm sorry, Ziva," he said, his voice cracking. She shook her head, confused. "I'm sorry I was too late..." he drew in a shaky breath, "To save you...from what he did to you..."

His words made her heart sink and her eyes sting. "Tony..." she pushed the tray table away from the bed and climbed beside him in the bed, hugging him to her. "Do you really believe that I blame you?"

"I blame me," he squeezed her small frame closer and she felt his tears soaking through to her shoulder.

"I wish you wouldn't," she stroked his hair. "It was my choice to stay behind in Tel Aviv. Not yours."

"Wasn't it?" he pulled away and looked into her eyes. "I'm the reason you chose to leave us."

"I made a bad decision...blinded to what really happened, Tony," she told him. "I left because I was afraid...afraid that...I was placing my trust in the wrong people." There was a few moments of silence. "I was wrong, Tony." She pulled him back to her and resumed stroking his hair. "It wasn't your fault."

He tried to believe her.

* * *

_It was bright...he tried to open his eyes, but it took a moment to adjust to the brightness of the room. He felt strange...his mouth and throat ached. When he focused his vision, he became frightened..._

* * *

Ducky woke up at the sound of beeping alerts, and quickly remembered where he was. He stood and saw that Gibbs' eyes were open and afraid. Nurses came rushing into the room as well as a doctor. Ducky stood out of the way as they talked to the patient and decided to remove the tube.

Mallard watched the uncomfortable process as the tube slid out, and Gibbs coughed. But he breathed. He was breathing. "Water," he said to the nurse, who brought him a drink. He soon relaxed back onto the bed and looked over at his friend.

"Ducky," he said. "What happened?" The nurses and doctor left the room and Gibbs in Ducky's care.

"Do you remember taking the pills?" he walked over to the bed.

"Yeah. I remember everything." That surprised Ducky. "What I'm asking is 'why'?"

"Manchester swapped your sleep aids with Methadone," he explained. Gibbs' face twitched with confusion. "Instead of sleeping pills, you actually took a lethal dose of Methadone...and washed it down with a glass of bourbon, at that."

"Is Abby okay?" he asked. He remembered the look on her face.

"She's worried about you. But she'll be here soon. I'm sure seeing you awake, talking and breathing...she'll be quite relieved. As I am," he added.

"Thanks for finding me, Duck," he said. He pushed himself up a bit on the bed and immediately regretted the decision. Luckily, Ducky knew by the change in color on his face what was happening and he quickly put a basin in front of him. Gibbs clutched it in his hands as he vomited the water he'd had only moments ago.

When he was sure he was finished, he laid back down. "That's expected, I'm afraid," Ducky told him as he took the basin from him.

"I'm tired," Gibbs said.

"Get some rest, Jethro. Someone will be here when you wake."

* * *

When Abby arrived to the ICU, Gibbs was sitting up comfortably, eating the last of his jello.

"Hey, Abs!" he smiled as she came in.

"Gibbs," she smiled and her eyes welled up. "You look like shit."

"Well...nice to see you too," he smirked. She came and sat down in the bed.

"You look a lot better then you did yesterday," she said softly. The tears spilled down her cheeks and she sheepishly wiped them away. Gibbs pushed the table away from the bed and held his arms out for her to hug him. She sunk into his chest and he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her hair.

"I'm sorry, Abs..."

* * *

McGee sat with his laptop in the chair next to Tony's bed. Tony had been sleeping since before Ziva swapped watch with Tim. He told Ziva the good news about Gibbs and she wanted to get home to shower and change before she came back to see him.

"My stomach hurts," McGee heard Tony say and looked up. Tony was on his side facing him. He set down his laptop and stood up.

"You...want me to get you something?"

"Why..." he seemed a bit winded, "Why is it so cold in here, Probie?" McGee furrowed his brow in concern and put his hand on Tony's forehead. Dinozzo didn't even attempt to swat his hand away.

"Geez, you're burning up. I'm gonna go get the nurse."

* * *

"Hey, Boss," Tim walked into Gibbs' room.

"Aren't you supposed to be babysitting Dinozzo?" he asked. Abby stood from the bed.

"He's uh...running a pretty high fever. There's a lot going on in there right now. Thought I'd get out of the way and see how you were feeling."

"What's wrong with him?" Abby asked.

"They said they'may give him another dose of anti-venom. They're changing the bandage over his shunt incision and making sure there's not an infection. Gonna run some blood tests and make sure everything's okay."

"Maybe I should go see him," Abby said. "Make sure he's okay...I'll see you a little later, Gibbs," she grinned and he nodded as she left.

"You look better, Boss," McGee said as he sat in a chair by the bed.

"I feel better," he replied. "My back hurts from layin' in this damn bed, though." McGee let out a small laugh. "Thanks for takin' care of Abs, McGee."

"She was pretty upset," he replied. Gibbs nodded. "Couldn't blame her though. It was pretty tough to see."

"Yeah," Gibbs laid his head back. "If that son of a bitch Manchester wasn't already dead, I'd kill him." Gibbs shut his eyes.

"Y-you going to sleep, Boss?"

"Yeah."

"You want me to stay?"

"You can," he said. "You don't have to."

He would stay for a little while...just to be sure he was okay.

* * *

_"The blood tests came back negative for all three kinds of venom," the doctor explained to Ziva on the phone. "We have him on a regular course of antibiotics to ensure there's no infection, but we didn't really pinpoint a reason for the fever."_

"But the fever is gone now, yes?"

_"Yes. His temperature is within normal levels. The fever might have been stress related."_

"Okay. If you could let him know I'll be there in about an hour, I'd appreciate it. Agent McGee is with him still, I assume?"

_"There was a Abigail Sciuto with him a while ago, but yes, Agent McGee is with him now."_

"Okay. Thank you, Doctor." She was tired. She just wanted to rest her eyes, maybe twenty minutes longer...

* * *

"Ya think Gibbs is up yet, Probie?" Tony flipped through the channels with the buttons on the bed rail.

"Not sure. We could just go down there and see, if you're that bored."

"I've been laying in this bed for two damn weeks, McGee...I'm beyond bored. But I _would_ like to see for myself that Gibbs is doing better."

"Okay, well let's go. I'm sure the boss is just dying to kick your ass in Jeopardy."

"Oh ho ho, Probie! That was a good pun...I see what you did there...dying..."

"That's not what I meant, Tony," he said as his partner flopped into the wheelchair.

"I know. But it was still funny."

* * *

"Hey, Dinozzo," Gibbs smirked as McGee wheeled him in. "Hardly recognize you without the head bandage."

"You're not lookin' too bad yourself, Boss," he said standing up out of the wheelchair and sitting down next to the bed. McGee cocked his jaw at Tony, knowing he'd taken the only chair in the room. Tim sat down in the wheelchair and positioned himself a few feet from Tony. "McGee says you're up for playing some Jeopardy," he said, looking at the television, surprised it was already on the game show. "I guess he was right."

"You don't wanna play me in Jeopardy, Dinozzo. There's no 'movies' category today," he smirked. Dinozzo gave a hurt laugh.

"You think I can't answer this stuff? Oh...look! No, I think this should be fair. See, there's a 'modern technology' category. We're even!" he looked back at his boss, unsure whether he'd have smacked him in the head for that, but he was laughing.

"Alright, Tony, you're on. McGee, you keep score."

* * *

They were about ten minutes into the game when it cut to commercial. "In my defense, I have recently had a hole...drilled into my skull," Dinozzi said, desperately trying to cling to his honor as Gibbs already had him by $1200.

"I'll give you that," Gibbs said, smirking. "Hey, McGee, think you can grab me a gingerale?"

"Oo me too, Probie!" Tony chimed in.

"Sure," McGee pushed out of the wheelchair and left to go to the nurse's station.

"This whole, 'being in the hospital' thing, has certain advantages," Tony smirked and looked at his boss.

"If you recall, I've never needed sympathy to get any of you to get my coffee."

"That's true, Boss," Tony turned to look at the television.

"You wanted regular, right--" McGee had come back to the room but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Gibbs' face. Tony looked at McGee. "Boss?" Then he looked at Gibbs. His head was laid back on the bed and his eyes were fixed open and staring.

"Boss, that's not funny..." Tony said. And suddenly they realized the flat-line alarm on the monitor next to him as nurses rushed in. The two agents backed up out of the way in the room and watched in horror and they opened the gown and began shocking him.

"Clear!" the noise was unmistakeable...they watched his body jump violently with each shock until finally the flat-line noise became a steady beating rhythm. The agents let out a breath they didn't realize they'd been holding. Tony fled out of the room. McGee hesitated but followed him.

"Tony," he called. "Tony, your chair."

"Fuck the chair, McGee," he continued to the elevator and pressed the button, satisfied that it opened immediately. Tim followed him into the elevator.

"Where are we going?" he asked, quietly.

"I don't know." The doors opened and on his floor and he walked to his room with McGee close behind him.

Ziva was standing at the nurse station when the rounded the corner. "Tony, what are you doing without your chair?" she asked. He walked past her and into his room. She looked at McGee. "What's going on?"

"I'm not sure," he said as they followed him into the room. Tony was changing into his clothes.

"Tony..." Ziva tried to get him to answer her.

"I'm checking out," he said. "I wanna go home." He slipped his shoes on and headed to the nurse's station. "I need to sign myself out," he yelled.

"Tony, what happened?" Ziva put her hand on his.

"I can't watch it happen again..." his voice was low. "I need to leave this place."

"What happened?" she asked again. He slowly dropped into a chair next to him.

"We were just playing Jeopardy. He was laughing...we were having a good time. I looked away for one second..." his voice drifted.

"Gibbs went into cardiac arrest," McGee explained, trying not to portray the fear that he, too, felt.

"What?!" Ziva's eyes grew wide.

"They brought him back," he said quickly. "It's the Methadone in his system. He's still recovering... It was nothing we did, Tony," he turned to him, realizing the man was blaming himself.

"How are you so sure, Probie?" he stood and went back into his room.

"I just am," he said, as they followed him back in. Tony was crawling into the bed and pulling the covers tight around him as he curled up on his side. "So you're staying?"

"I'm just cold...I want to go to sleep." McGee went over to him and felt his forehead again.

"You're fever is back," he said. But he got no response from Tony. He looked at his face. His eyes were half closed. "Tony?" He didn't answer. Tim shook him gently by the shoulder to no avail and he looked worriedly over to Ziva who immediately went to the doorway and called for a nurse.

* * *

Ducky sat at his desk in the morgue having just hung up the phone. He was slightly hunched and he hands rested palms down near the phone. His eyes darted about, looking at nothing in particular, but tried to put together the knowledge contained in his own mind...something that would ease his anxieties. "Dear God,...please..."

His head moved slightly toward the sound of the doors swishing open, then turned back down to the desk.

"Dr. Mallard," Palmer said as the doors closed behind him, "I took Abby home like you asked. She went right to bed like you made her promise."

"Thank you, Jimmy," he said in an unusual tone without looking at him.

"Is everything okay, Sir?" his assistant sensed his dismay. Ducky took a breath and turned in his chair. Jimmy swallowed at the sight of his reddened eyes.

"I just got off the phone with Agent David," he explained. "Jethro went into cardiac arrest less than an hour ago...they brought him back right away and he's slipped back into a coma...and Tony seems to have taken yet another turn for the worse...but this time, they're not sure why," he swallowed and turned back towards his desk. "He seems to be catatonic," he continued, "And they're taking him to get an MRI to make sure there hasn't been any more complications from the hemorrhage."

"Sir..." Palmer finally spoke. "I know we're on call today, but if you wanna go back to the hospital..." Ducky turned again in his chair to look at the young assistant. "I'd be more than happy to cover for you here...that is...if something major comes our way, I'd call you, of course...but..."

"Thank you, Jimmy," Ducky stood and patted the man's arm, looking into his eyes for a split second before turning to go out the door.

* * *

Ducky walked into Gibbs' room in the ICU to find Ziva sitting in Tony's wheelchair she had moved closer to the door. She was just sitting there, looking over at her boss's sleeping form from a distance.

"Ziva," he said quietly to her. Her eyes moved down a bit but then back to where they'd started. Ducky could tell she was upset. "How long have you been here?"

"In this room? Not long .At the hospital...I've lost track of time. I went home this morning. I shouldn't have," she said. Ducky pulled the chair from beside the bed to sit beside Ziva. "I should have come to see him before I left," she continued. "I was just so tired and wanted to sleep in my own bed...just for a little while..." The doctor simply listened as Agent David's eyes never left the bed of the man in front of her. Her eyes became red as she continued, "I should have stayed...now I-" she pursed her lips in effort to stifle the lump that was building in her throat and will her tears to stay at bay, "Now I don't know if he'll ever wake up...if I've lost my chance to talk with him one last time," now the tears fell. "And Tony...Tony's losing his mind...I don't know what to do anymore..."

Dr. Mallard's hand went to sit upon hers that lay on the arm of the wheelchair. "Ziva," he said softly, and she looked at him now because she heard the pain evident in his voice. And she saw the matched anguish on his face and her chin began to quiver because now it was impossible to hold in. She dropped to her knees from the chair to the floor and Ducky knelt down and pulled her weeping form into an embrace that she willingly accepted. "Dear Ziva..."

* * *

Tim stood behind the doctors who sat in front of the MRI monitors. There was a large glass panel window that showed the MRI machine and Tony's body lay still upon the table and it moved him in enough to scan his head.

Tim's arms were crossed and one of his hands came up to cup his chin and his pointer finger lay gently across his mouth. He looked down at the monitors as the MRI machine started scanning.

* * *

_His eyes opened and he was confused. They wouldn't focus. He could only see white. He couldn't hear...couldn't even hear the sound of his own breath. "Am I dead?" he said, but didn't hear it..._

_ Then, all at once the sound beat against his eardrums and his eyes focused close in front of him and he began to panic. His heart was beating fast in his chest and his breath was shortened and labored. The sound—the sound was making him...remember..._

_ The sound of the guards lining up against the walls around them...Manchester hitting Gibbs over and over...then turning and shooting McGee... "McGee..." But he couldn't move...he couldn't stop Manchester from hurting his boss...from hurting McGee...he was trapped—something was holding him back..._

* * *

No one realized Tony was awake until Tim saw movement that distracted his gaze from the monitors and back into the room in front of them. Tony's legs were moving...slowly but, it reminded him of when he was in shock...in the room they'd held them in.

"He's awake," Tim finally voiced. The doctors looked up and flipped on the speaker.

"Mr. Dinozzo, you're having an MRI. You're at the hospital. There's nothing to be afraid of," one of them said. The speaker allowed them to hear inside the MRI scanning area in case a patient needed to speak.

"Boss!" Tony yelled. Tim's arms dropped and he walked toward the window. Tony was still struggling. "McGee...McGee!"

"Maybe you should stop..." Tim said nervously.

"The scan will be done in a few seconds," a doctor said. "Maybe you can talk to him and calm him down? Just press and hold that red button to talk." McGee hesitantly went to the button.

"Tony..." he said, "It's me. It's McGee...everything's gonna be okay...you just gotta hang on...just a little longer..."

* * *

_ "Come on, buddy...you're gonna be okay. We're gonna get you outta here...you just gotta hold on..."_ _Tony held the cloth over the bullet hole and the blood oozed out and over his hand...McGee's grip loosened in his other..._

* * *

Tony desperately attempted to free himself from the machine as Tim grew frustrated at the doctors. "Something's wrong! You have to stop the test and get him out of there!" he yelled.

"Finished," one of them said, "Go get him out of there," he said to the others. Tim followed them into the room to help. They pulled the bed out of the machine and Tony immediately rolled off of it, nearly falling to the floor but Tim and one of the doctors caught him and sat him back down on the table.

"No!" he shouted. "You shot McGee! He's dying!" he tried to push through the doctors again. Tim's eyes widened, realizing what was happening. He pried his way through to Tony.

"Tony, I'm here!" he said, grabbing his shoulders, "I'm right here...I'm not dying, I'm right here..." Tony's eyes began to focus on the agent in front of him and seemed to still a bit.

"Probie..." he said, catching his breath. His hands went out to the man's chest.

"They fixed me, Tony," he said, unbuttoning his shirt and lifting the tee shirt to show him the healing scar.

"They fixed you..." Tony repeated. Then he started to waver.

"Whoa...Tony, you okay?" Tim held him steady by the arms.

"What happened?" he asked. "I'm tired..."

* * *

McGee walked cautiously into the ICU room where he found Ziva and Ducky sitting and talking quietly. "Timothy," Ducky said when he caught sight of him, "Any news on Tony's MRI results?"

"Yeah," he came in and sat wearily on the end of Gibbs' bed to face them. "They said it's clean. There's nothing physically wrong with him." Ducky suspected that he wasn't telling them everything, by the distant look on his face.

"Did they say anything else?" he asked. Tim looked at him hesitantly for a moment.

"They said...he might be suffering from PTSD," he said.

"What happened?" They were all surprised to hear Gibbs' voice and Tim stood from the bed and spun around.

"Jethro..." Ducky stood and went to his bedside as did Ziva.

"What happened with Tony?" Gibbs' restated.

"He uh..." McGee began, "They wanted to run an MRI when he uh...his fever came back and he lost consciousness." Gibbs listened intently. "In the middle of the MRI, he regained consciousness, and he uh..." Now they were all listening intently and looking at Tim. His eyes darted back and forth between them, "He started having flashbacks...about Manchester." They waited for him to elaborate.

"I told them to stop the test and let him out...he was freaking out in that machine...trying to get out..." Now it was Tim whose eyes grew distant and quiet.

_He remembered the way Tony's legs moved on the MRI machine...remembered the way Tony struggled on the floor in the warehouse, writhing in pain... "What can I do?"_

Tim realized he had said that last bit out loud. His eyes shot back up to his colleagues and was surprised to see Ducky standing beside him, his hand on his arm. "Sorry..." he said. "Uh...Tony must've thought we were back at the warehouse...he insisted that I'd been shot and he needed to help me. I convinced him that I was okay...he calmed back down. He's back in his room, sleeping now."

Gibbs wasn't looking at him anymore, but down somewhere in the air between them, "Last thing I remember, you and Tony were in here. We were watching Jeopardy."

"Yeah..." Tim looked down. "You went into cardiac arrest...outta nowhere, Boss."

"What?" he sat up straighter.

"Another unfortunate side effect from the Methadone," Ducky explained.

"That's when Tony kinda lost it," Tim said and his boss looked at him again.

"He tried to check himself out right before he lost consciousness," Ziva told him. He looked up at Ziva next to him.

"Maybe you two should be with him, then," he said, looking back at McGee.

"Yeah, sure," Tim answered and looked at Ziva. Ziva was subconsciously biting her lower lip, looking down at her boss. Gibbs looked back up at her and made eye contact.

"I'll be fine, Ziva," he said, lightly placing his hand over hers that gripped the bed-rail tightly. She hadn't even realized she'd been doing that until then. "Go on," he told her. She nodded, gently pulling her hand away, and followed McGee out the door.

Gibbs waited until he was sure they'd be out of hearing range to speak. "I don't think Dinozzo is the only one suffering from PTSD," he told his friend.

"I was thinking the same thing," Ducky confirmed. "Some of us worse than others." Gibbs looked at him then. "I think since the Manchester incident, we've all had more than our fair share of sleepless nights. Tony...well we both know the long list of things that have happened to him in the past couple of months. But the things he's taken the hardest involve witnessing the pain and suffering of the people around him...the people he cares most for." Gibbs was listening, but looking down at his hands. "Timothy...well I think the same goes for him...and for Ziva."

"They've had a lot thrown on their plates," Gibbs said.

"Yes, they have. Tim has slipped into the roll of emotional stability for the sake of his peers." Gibbs nodded at that. "And Ziva..." Gibbs looked over at him again. Ducky pulled the chair back over to the bed and sat. "She plays a good poker face...hides the intensity of her fear from them...she was trained that way. But she is human like the rest of us, as the dampened shoulder of my shirt reminds me," he brushed at it.

"I think you should keep talking with them like you have been," Gibbs said. "Seems like they all trust you enough to say what they feel."

"They trust you, too, Jethro," he told him. Gibbs simply smirked. "They really do. They just don't want you to see them as weak."

"I don't think they're weak," he said.

"I know." After a long moment of silence, Gibbs looked over at his friend again.

"Maybe..." he hesitated, "Maybe we should all talk...when we get outta here." He looked back down at his hands. Ducky gave a small smile.

"I think that's a good start."

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Ziva asked McGee as he walked into the bullpen.

"Gibbs is out of ICU and in a regular room now. Thought I'd drop in and see if you needed any help with paperwork."

"I thought this was your time with Tony?" she looked at her watch. Tim smiled.

"I don't think we'll need to babysit anymore."

"What do you mean?"

* * *

Tony woke up and turned onto his back, stretching then opening his eyes. He was a bit surprised not to see anyone sitting in the chair next to his bed. He heard the television on and looked up to see Jeopardy on the screen. It was a movie question, and he knew the answer and said it out loud, "What is Gone With the Wind!" and his head shot over when he heard Gibbs had said it in unison with him. His boss was in the next bed over, taking a bite out of a sandwich.

"Boss?"

"Hey, Dinozzo," he said, then swallowed.

"You're out of ICU?" he asked. Gibbs nodded.

"Bunkin' with you for a couple of days. Then it looks like we'll both be headin' outta here."

"They're cutting us loose?" Tony sat up and smiled.

"Two days," Gibbs held up two fingers, then took another bite of his sandwich.

"Two days...right, Boss. That's good news though, right? Methadone all outta your system?"

"No more surprises," he said after swallowing again.

"That's real good, Boss. I don't think I can handle anymore surprises for a while," he looked away, kind of hoping he hadn't heard that. After a moment, he heard his boss speak.

"Me too."

* * *

"Man, I am dying for some real food," Tony said excitedly as he, Gibbs and Ziva rode down the elevator to the main floor of the hospital.

"I could go for a steak," Gibbs agreed.

"There's a steakhouse not too far from here," Ziva suggested. "Ducky, Jimmy and McGee are waiting in front to give us a ride. We can follow each other."

"Palmer's here?" Tony seemed surprised.

"I asked him to. He showed up to work with something I knew you just had to see," Ziva smiled, deviously, as they pushed out the front doors. She watched Tony's face as his eyes registered what was parked in front of them. Palmer, McGee and Ducky had been standing alongside the curb, talking to pass the time as they waited for them to get downstairs to the cars.

"Oh...dear sweet Elvis..." Tony swept over to the cherry red vehicle and barely hovered his hands over the beauty before him. "1967 Cuda, in pristine condition...Palmer...Jimmy...where the hell did you get this?"

"Actually, my uncle passed away and left me this in his will," he said. Tony turned to Jimmy.

"I'm sorry about your uncle."

"I...didn't really know the guy. But he was a classic car enthusiast. He had dozens of cars. One for every brother, sister, niece and nephew, in fact. My mom got a 57 Mustang," he smirked.

"Well then...congratulations," he turned back to the car and put his hand on the door. "May I?" he asked.

"I don't think you should be driving just yet, Tony," Ziva said.

"Aw that's not fair!" he turned to Gibbs, "Boss, tell her to let me drive!" Gibbs smirked and turned around. "Hey, where ya goin?"

"I'm riding with Duck," he answered, opening the passenger door to get into Ducky's vintage Morgan. "We'll follow you, Ziva." Tony's face changed to a look of devastation.

"Looks like Gibbs just told me to drive," Ziva said. Tony turned to Palmer.

"If you value your life..." he began.

"Aw come on, Tony," Jimmy said, "She's not gonna hurt anything. Tell you what, I'll take back seat. You can sit shotgun." Tony opened his mouth to further protest but then he heard Gibbs shout from the window.

"Come on, Dinozzo, I'm starving!" he received a frustrated glance from Tony, and he turned to Ducky to smirk in amusement.

McGee climbed hesitantly into the seat behind Ziva. Tony reluctantly climbed into the front passenger seat, shut the door and put on his seat belt right as Ziva revved the engine. "Don't worry, Tony," she patted his hand, "I'll be a good girl."

To his surprise, she was taking it easy for the first time he'd ever witnessed. Even Ducky was keeping up with her for the most part. They came up to a four-way intersection as the light turned yellow and Ziva sped up, only to have to stop in the middle of the crossroads. "That was not my fault!" she defended. She honked the horn for the cars ahead of her to move.

Ducky _had_ stopped at the light as it turned red. Only Gibbs noticed the large flat-bed trailer that was hauling down the road to their left. "Is he gonna stop?" Gibbs asked out loud, looking back at Palmer's car, then back at the trailer, sitting forward in his seat in horror as he watched the driver slam on his breaks and attempt to turn and avoid the car...but failed.

***

Ziva didn't see it until it was too late...the trailer slammed into her door and pushed the car a good fifteen feet before coming to a stop...

Tony's ears were ringing as he waited for the dust to clear. He heard Palmer shout, "Tony, you okay?"

"Yeah...you?"

"I'm good...I think."

"I'm okay, too," Tim called.

"Ziva?" Tony heard her breathing heavy but couldn't see her clearly, and he fanned the air as he took off his belt and moved to sit on his knee facing her.

"Tony..." she said. Then he saw her.

"Oh god, Ziva..." The driver door was folded over and the door frame had become detached and was now lodged in her left shoulder...

"Tony," McGee said nervously. He turned around to see Tim staring at the back of the driver seat and saw what he was calling him about. The frame lodged in Ziva's shoulder was all the way through and sticking out the back...the blood was trickling down the white vinyl upholstery...

* * *

Gibbs threw open his door and ran as fast as his feet would carry him toward the destroyed car that carried his team and he saw Palmer get out on the right side and back away from it. "You okay, Palmer?" he shouted.

"It's Ziva..." Palmer said, not looking away from the car.

"Ziva!" he went to the passenger side and pulled open the door.

"Boss, Ziva's hurt..." Tony's voice shook as he told Gibbs. He looked past Tony and saw the blood soaking down Ziva's shirt from the object embedded in her shoulder. He ran around to the other side of the car.

"Ducky!" he shouted to the doctor who was headed toward the car with his medical bag.

"Ambulance is on its way, Jethro!" he shouted. Gibbs climbed onto the side of the trailer that sat in the driver door. "How bad?" Ducky asked him.

"Ziva's pinned down through her left shoulder."

"Is she conscious?"

"Yeah..." he said as he knelt down in front of the open window to see Ziva's face. "What should I do, Duck?" he asked, assessing the object.

"I wouldn't pull it out until the ambulance gets here," Ducky replied. Gibbs felt helpless as he watched Ziva squirm in her seat.

McGee sat uncomfortably, surrounded by the shattered glass from his window, watching the blood pool from the beam that protruded from the back of the seat to the floor, when something sparked in his peripheral vision. He looked over at the the trailer as realized that something was spitting out sparks, and that the large tank that held the gasoline had been nicked and was slowly leaking in a stream toward their car.

"Uh...Boss?" he said. "I don't think we can wait-" And Gibbs looked where McGee's gaze fell as the sparks ignited the gasoline.

"Jethro!" Ducky yelled in fear, "You need to get her out of there now!" This he knew.

"Ziva, I have to get this out," he said, taking hold of the beam. "Dinozzo, I need you to hold onto her! McGee, get the hell out of there!"

Tony repositioned himself so his right arm draped over her chest and his hand pressed against her, right below her neck. She reached out with her right hand to grab his left and squeezed. His face sat gently next to her ear.

"I should've let you drive," she said.

"This isn't your fault...We're gonna get you outta here, Zee," he said softly, and saw McGee still sitting in the back. Then he saw and heard the back of the car suddenly wash up into flames. "McGee, get the hell out of here!" he shouted, and McGee snapped into reality and noticed the flames.

"Tony..." he hesitated, not wanting to leave them behind.

"Go, Probie!" he yelled, and he reluctantly exited out Palmer's door.

"Oh god!" Ziva cried as she saw the flames in the rear view mirror.

"Ziva, hold on!" Gibbs yelled as he yanked furiously on the beam. She screamed as it slowly began to slide.

"It's okay, Ziva," Tony said in her ear, trying to bring her some kind of comfort. "It's almost over!" Gibbs audibly strained as he pulled with all his might on the stubborn piece of metal until it was free, and Ziva screamed once more. The flames rushed in to the backseat.

"Get her out of there, Tony!" Gibbs yelled. Tony pulled her, but realized her belt was still on. He fumbled to unlatch it then grabbed her and pulled her out his door, dragging her as far away as he could before the flames heated the the gas tank and the car exploded behind them. He threw himself over her, protectively, as debris fell from the sky.

Gibbs, Ducky, McGee and Palmer came running toward them and they could hear the sirens of the ambulance in the distance. Tony pushed himself up and looked down at Ziva's face, tears streaming down the sides, and she was shaking...

"Ziva?" Tony pulled strands of stray hair from her face.

"She's in shock," Ducky said as he came up behind him.

"Ziva..." Gibbs knelt on her other side and took her hand. Tony stripped off his tee shirt and pressed it to the oozing wound on her shoulder.

"Come on, Zee," he said, "They're almost here," he wiped the tears from the side of her face with his free hand. "Stay with me..." he couldn't help but to remember when it was McGee he was trying to convince...when he had tried to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound...

Ziva was looking right at Tony as she breathed. The EMTs rushed to her side and the team backed away to give them room. His eyes didn't leave hers until hers fluttered closed.

His hands went to his face, then back into his hair and he clutched it in his fists, backing away further from them. Gibbs turned toward him. He knew what was going through his agent's mind.

"Dinozzo," he called to him as he went after him. The others turned and watched their distraught friend as Gibbs approached him. Tony stood still; his hands still clenched in his hair as he breathed heavily in panic.

"She's gonna be okay," Gibbs said. Tears suddenly trailed down Tony's face.

"I can't lose her, Boss...I can't..." he crumbled and his body lurched over, his arms dropping down and hugging tightly around his abdomen, "I can't do it..." Gibbs reached out, taking Tony by the shoulders and pulled the broken man to his chest, holding him as he cried. The sobs that shook his body made Gibbs' heart sink.

He turned his head slightly to see them loading Ziva into the ambulance and looked at McGee, motioning with his head for him to go with her. He nodded and ran to the ambulance.

"Is there anything I can do?" Ducky asked quietly, with a worrisome look upon his face.

"Call Abs. Tell her we need a ride. Take Palmer back to the hospital."

* * *

Abby had no trouble finding the intersection where the accident had taken place. Getting through the jumble of firetrucks, ambulances and tow trucks was another story. But she soon passed through them and pulled up to where Gibbs and Dinozzo were now sitting on the curb. She put the car in park and ran over to them.

"Are you okay?" she stopped in front of them and they looked up at her.

"Yeah," Gibbs answered for them.

"What about Ziva?" she asked, sitting down on the curb next to Tony. She put her hand on his back.

"Ducky called," Gibbs answered, "She's in surgery now. We don't know anything apart from that."

"We should probably get over there," she said. "It's getting chilly out here." They had barely noticed that it had begun to get dark.

* * *

"I hate this place," Tony said through gritted teeth as he sat in the O.R waiting room with his team. "It's like an...evil force...sucking us back here over and over." He watched Gibbs pace the floor in front of them. He looked over at McGee. "You've got some nasty scratches there, Probie," he said as he saw the cuts on his face from the glass. Tim reached up, not realizing that until he'd said so.

"Just scratches," he responded and resumed tapping on the arm rest. He didn't want to mention the dried blood that was all over Tony's undershirt, arms and hands.

Palmer rounded the corner, a fresh cast fixed over his wrist. They all looked at him.

"It was broken," he said. "I didn't even feel it..." he took a seat next to Ducky. Just then, a surgeon walked out of the O.R towards them. Ducky stood and walked to meet him with Gibbs.

"Miss David was lucky," he started, "The beam didn't hit any vital organs. It was a clean cut through. She came through surgery just fine. They're taking her to recovery now. She'll probably be waking up soon."

"Thank you, Doctor," Ducky shook his hand, relieved. Gibbs turned around to the rest of them, looked at Dinozzo and nodded.

Tony let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and his head dropped in relief. Then he stood and walked over to them. "Can we see her?" he asked.

* * *

Tony and Gibbs stood next to Ziva's bed, confirming that she was, in fact, okay. The white blankets over her hid the bandages. Tony looked up at the monitor and watched the readout of her heartbeat.

"You should let Abby take you home so you can get cleaned up," Gibbs said.

"I don't wanna leave her here," he responded without looking away from the screen.

"I'll stay here with her. Go home...get some rest and I'll be here when you get back." Tony looked down at Ziva's peaceful face, then back at his boss. He nodded then left the room.

* * *

Tony stepped into the shower at his apartment and relished in the feel of the hot water on his aching muscles. When he opened his eyes he was looking at the tile floor and blood was circling the drain. That's when he noticed the red that painted his hands and arms. He rolled it on his fingertips for a moment, thanking God that she hadn't been taken from him, then put his hands back under the flowing stream of water and watched as it circled down the drain.

* * *

Tony walked towards Ziva's hospital room, slowing when he heard laughter through the door. He looked in at McGee, Ducky and Gibbs as they sat all around Ziva who was sitting up, joining in their laughter. He smiled, not concerned with what they were laughing about...

Ziva was the first to see him standing in the door and their eyes met. He smiled at her and walked in, "What'd I miss?" he said.

"I was just telling Ziva how Mr. Palmer plans to have what's left of the Barracuda crushed down and made into a paperweight for her desk," Ducky laughed.

"How's he holding up?" Tony asked.

"He's not completely devastated, if that's what you mean," Ducky explained. "The company that owns that trailer has been calling him all morning, begging him to take a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar settlement."

"He could buy five of those with that," Tim said.

"Well, Jimmy plans to invest in a vehicle equipped with better safety features," Ducky told him. "And he wants to pay for any medical bills our insurance hasn't covered..." his features softened as he looked around the room, "That we've all acquired over these past couple of months."

"That's...very generous of him," McGee said.

"He wanted to help. This is the only way he knew how." The room got quiet.

"Who's hungry?" McGee broke the silence. "My treat."

"Gonna take a lot more then lunch to top Palmer, McMoneybags," Tony cracked.

"I'm not trying to top him, Tony...I'm paying it forward."

"Well then, in that case, bring Ziva and I back some Philly cheese steak sandwiches." Ducky and Gibbs stood to follow McGee out. Tony took a breath and went to sit in the chair closest to Ziva.

"Looks like I'm getting payback from all the babysitting you had to do with me," he smiled at her. She curled up one side of her mouth.

"It wasn't so bad, Tony," she admitted. "But I know you didn't want to see the inside of this building for a long while."

"I'm just glad you're okay," he said.

"I am," she smiled. He smiled and moved to sit on the bed next to her and took her hand in both of his.

"I love you," he said.

"You told me...in the warehouse," she replied.

"No...I mean..." he brought a hand up to tuck her hair behind her ear and let his thumb linger on her cheek, "I love you," he said in barely a whisper. Her eyes stung as she looked back and forth between his which looked deeply into hers. He looked down at her lips, then back at her eyes before leaning down and placing a soft kiss on her lips.

He pulled back slightly to search her eyes and felt her hand come up to his cheek, then snake back to pull him back to her as she returned the kiss more deeply. He pulled away only when he heard the monitor beep next to them. He looked to see that her heart rate had gone up a bit, and he let out a small, satisfied laugh and looked at her again as he sat up.

"Thank you...for saving me," she smiled.

* * *

Gibbs made his way up to Vance's office, taking a long sip of his coffee. He went right in when the secretary nodded to him.

"You wanted to see me, Director?" he asked, shutting the door behind him.

"Gibbs," he stood. "I wanted to apologize...for everything that happened with the Manchester case." Gibbs shook his head. "No. It was unacceptable for me not to have informed you before I left."

"You did what you had to do to protect your family, Leon."

"But I didn't protect my agents," he responded. "I almost got you all killed."

"But we're all here," Gibbs added.

"And that gets me wondering what all we might've lost in the process," he said. "How is your team, Agent Gibbs? And how are you?" Gibbs cocked his head a bit before answering.

"We're getting there," he said. "We're all medically cleared. They can do their jobs, if that's what you're asking." Vance was silent for a moment as he looked at him

"That's good to hear. And I hope you're right," he said. "Each of you are indispensable. I would hate for something to happen if one of you should ever hesitate on the job." Gibbs looked down at the desk then back up to Vance.

"Is that all, Sir?" He nodded, and Gibbs turned.

"If you need anything," Vance said, "Please ask."

* * *

Tony stepped off the elevator and into the morgue, slowing when he saw McGee, Ziva and Ducky, but no body on the autopsy tables. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Gibbs told us to meet him down here," Ziva replied.

"Any idea why?"

"I thought you'd know," McGee said. Tony looked at Ducky.

"Well, don't ask me," he said. The doors hissed open behind Tony and he turned to see Gibbs walk in.

"Don't ask you what, Duck?" Gibbs asked.

"We're all wondering why you called a meeting in the morgue," Ducky responded from his chair by the desk.

"We're gonna talk," Gibbs said, grabbing another chair and and placing it down as he sat, "About what happened at the warehouse." They all shared glances around the room.

Ducky looked at Jethro...and he was quite proud.

~Fin ~


End file.
